PM:Thai government will never bow to southern separatism

BANGKOK, September 5 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has insisted that her government will never bow to separatism, if any, in the Thai far South. Responding to the Bersatu separatist organization, which recently announced to intensify its violent attacks to establish an independent Pattani State, Yingluck told journalists that she plans to discuss the issue with her Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak during the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC Summit in Russia's Vladivostok City, scheduled for September 8-9. Yingluck acknowledged that the government has assigned agencies concerned to survey for relevant and updated information on the overall situation in the violence-plagued southernmost Thai region, including a review whether there are sufficient personnel and needed equipment, and that measures to ensure public safety will be implemented in parallel with development projects in the Thai deep South. According to the prime minister, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapa is also discussing the readiness with concerned authorities, including the head of the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center (SBPAC) and the commander of the 4th Army Area Command and the governors of southern border provinces. The prime minister said that she does not think the situation in the Thai far South will affect Thai-Malaysian relations, as the Thai and Malaysian governments have always communicated with each other. (TNA)